Imbruvica Effective Against Relapsed or Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma

According to an open-label multicenter, phase 2 study coming from the US and Europe, the oral Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) is effective in treating patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Michael Wang, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues recruited a total of 111 patients with R/R MCL and treated them with oral ibrutinib daily for a median of 8.3 months.

The overall response rate (ORR) was 67%, while 23 percent of patients achieved a complete response. The overall survival rate at 24 months was 47 percent, a figure that reflects the challenges of treating this disease and the need to appreciate small victories.

"MCL is not curable and relapse is common with the majority of patients dying from progressive disease (PD)," Wang and colleagues wrote. "In addition, the commonly used chemotherapeutic regimens can cause myelosuppression that can make treatment particularly difficult in elderly patients [so] novel agents with improved efficacy and less toxicity are needed."

The most commonly experienced adverse events included diarrhea, fatigue, and nausea

The team reported its findings in the journal Blood.

Sources: Blood, MedPage Today